Rant Highlights

In the Daily Gush of Olde Scooter's "Comments," the Occasional Bon Mot (more mot than bon)
Here's a sample

The story was about how Stephen Bannon was thought to have orchestrated an anti-H.R. McMasters campaign to oust the general from his National Security Adviser role by calling him a "globalist." Salon 8/14/17
                                             Bannon                                            Globalist
Scooter spake:
The brain-twisters on the Republican (and moreso Trump) payrolls have demonized the word "globalist." They demonized "diversity" and "sustainable" and "progressive" and many more. This propagandist's trick of changing the very meaning of our vocabulary is insidious and deeply dangerous to the free exchange of ideas. Robert Mercer's (and Steve Bannon's) Cambridge Analytica uses Big Data and advanced Artificial Intelligence to direct this mutation of language. What Frank Luntz and his focus groups honed, C.A. is powering up and fine-targeting with techniques average Americans are totally ignorant of.
(Frank Luntz is the marketing genius behind powerful Republican messages and labels. Been around for years.)

Jennifer Rubin column on Trump’s slow response to name hate groups.Washington Post   8.14.17


duffworx (Scooter) spake:
Thank you, Ms Rubin, for articulating what we must start saying with the passion of proven truth, "...people of diverse origins and faiths prosper together in free and open societies." Statements like "Diversity is our strength," are just not enough. In fact the word "diversity" is a trigger for racists. Every time I read Science Magazine, the list of authors has a very U.N. color to it for research done in America. Entrepreneurs in America a very diverse in their national origins. The hardest working on the lower rungs of labor are striving immigrants. Genius is not only born in every segment of the human spectrum, it is expanded by different perspectives. Diversity IS a great strength of America, and we need to say it and say it, just a little more specifically and colorfully.
   (This is one my new passions, "selling" the truth of the power of a diverse population.)

Will passengers ever accept pilotless planes, flown by A.I.s? Aviation Week.  8.14.17


scooterduff spake:

on Aug 14, 2017

Transition, transition, transition. Both common sense and the public's anxiety will be served by an unrushed transition, with backup pilots until two things happen. 1.) A failure rate of the A.I.s approaching zero, and 2.)the acceptance by the public starts moving positively. Then peer pressure will speed it up. Could take a while. Don't rush it!
    (I love AviationWeek.com's free newsletter.)

I write a bunch of stuff in various "comments" sections. I like reading reader comments almost as much as I like reading the stuff they are commenting about. Commently speaking. 

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